Waving in the Air

Waving in the AirWhile it is still giving users of other brands of laptop hell, the US Transportation Security Administration will wave through Apple’s new 11-inch MacBook Air.

The TSA has announced that passengers may leave their machine in its bag when passing through the checkpoint. This means that the Air will join the Apple iPad as brands of machines that will not be hassled by staff looking for terrorist gear, It is not an exception just for Apple gear. Apparently it is all to do with the size of the screen. Apparently the 13″ MacBook Air is still a potential terror tool in the eyes of the US security people. This is despite the fact that one of them costs the same as the gross domestic product of Afghanistan and unlikely to be used by terrorists.

It all begs the question about these daft security checks. Why can officers scan an 11-inch machine when it is in a bag, but require special access to anything larger? The answer that these checks are nothing about security at all, but a deliberate attempt to deter people from travelling and to help make us all paranoid. (In your case, it seems to be working. sub.ed.)

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